Disclosure: I received this book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.  The post contains affiliate links; if you make a purchase through these links I will receive a small commission.

Family dynamics creates a cloud of intrigue for me. Anytime you’re dealing with human reasoning, it’s a constant battle of perception. How one member of the family perceives another can be entirely void of objective truth, but it doesn’t matter — it’s that person’s perception that counts. In Lisa Samson’s Runaway Saint the skeletons in a family’s closet come to light without any warning.

I’m all too familiar with many of the issues in this book.  Favoritism toward children, absentee family members, and holding grudges are all chinks in Sara Drexel’s armor.   In a funny setting like the movie Parental Guidance, it can be a little humorous to see the differences in family upbringing.  In contrast, everything lurks beneath the surface in Runaway Saint.  Sara’s hippie chick mom doesn’t really fit the mold that Sara seems to have established as the perfect mom.  Still, she’s learning to deal.  But when her Aunt Bel shows up after decades of being an impromptu overseas missionary, it completely changes everything Sara has known to be true all these years.  I liked Sara’s husband Finn; his cool constancy was the rock that Sara needed.

The details in Runaway Saint had a tendency to bog down my interest.  I didn’t need to know the nitty gritty facts about the printing press used in Sara’s office, or the exact types of wood used in her home’s flooring.  Those little nuances made me skim some parts of the story.  It’s not a deeply religious read at all; in fact, spirituality is more of a nebulous theme in this book.  When it came down to the bare bones of the book, I really enjoyed the story.